This Week In Tennis
Vol. 26

The rains that tormented players, fans, and organizers at Roland Garros were a similar nuisance during week one of Wimbledon. Venus Williams endured five rain delays in one match alone, including an untimely interruption while she held match point in the third round. Muguruza and Djokovic were unable to replicate their French Open success, losing in the second and third rounds respectively. In spite of those upsets, the tournament has delivered compelling story lines with championship weekend only a few days away. Serena Williams remains on course for a 22nd Grand Slam title, Venus Williams joins her in the semifinals for the first time since 2009, and Roger Federer is three wins away from an 18th Slam title of his own.

​Let's take a look back at the action that has brought us to this point, with the final four decided in the women's draw and quarterfinal action set to take place in the men's draw tomorrow.

Serena Williams survived a three-set battle with Christina McHale in the second round, but hasn't lost a set at any point during her run to the semifinals. Elena Vesnina awaits her before a possible final against Venus, should big sis get past Kerber.

Venus Williams is into her first Grand Slam semifinal since '10 U.S. Open, and first at Wimbledon since 2009. Williams' semifinal is her ninth at Wimbledon, one shy of Serena's ten. This result ensures she'll rise to at least #7 in the rankings, #6 if she makes the final, and #5 if she wins it all.

Novak Djokovic's quest for a fifth consecutive Slam title and the third leg of the Calendar Slam fell short in the third round against Sam Querrey. It was Djokovic's first loss before the quarterfinals of a Slam since the '09 French Open, and first time he'll miss out on a Slam final since '14 U.S. Open.

Garbine Muguruza lost to Jana Cepelova in the second round. Last year's Wimbledon finalist was unable to translate her French Open form onto the grass courts. She'll also cede her #2 ranking to Kerber at tournament's end.

Andy Murray, beaten in the Australian and French Open finals by Novak Djokovic, is now the favourite for his second Wimbledon title and third overall Slam after the world #1's early exit. He's played 10 Slam finals, all against Djokovic and Federer.

In her 11th year of playing Grand Slam tennis, Elena Vesnina made it past the fourth round for the first time, booking a semifinal matchup with Serena Williams. Ranked as high as #21 in 2013, the Russian entered Wimbledon ranked #50 but will return to at least #25 at the end of this fortnight.

Angelique Kerber will regain the #2 ranking after reaching the semifinals. This year's Australian Open champion will play Venus Williams in the fourth semifinal of her career. If Serena Williams loses in the semifinals and Kerber wins the title, the German will supplant Williams as world #1.

Sam Querrey scored the upset of the tournament beating Novak Djokovic in the third round for the biggest win of his career. The American is still alive in the draw and faces Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals.

Lucas Pouille, having never advances beyond the second round at a Grand Slam, finds himself in the quarterfinals where he will play Tomas Berdych.

​Roger Federer entered Wimbledon with little fanfare about his prospects for an eighth Wimbledon title. However, with Djokovic out and Murray on the other side of the draw, Federer stands a good chance of at least making the final.

Marcus Willis dominated headlines during the opening days of the tournament after the world #772 won his first round match to book a Centre Court matchup with Roger Federer.

Juan Martin del Potro scored the biggest win of his comeback from injury when he took out #4 seed Stan Wawrinka in the second round. The Argentine was unable to backup the win, losing to Pouille in the next round.

Q. What do you think it says, along with what you experienced last year, about the challenge to make history in this individual sport when you're going for such a difficult goal to attain?SERENA WILLIAMS: I think he and I have both made extreme history. He's won four in a row. I won four in a row last year. I think that's historic in itself.

Q. How would you describe your day and the result?VENUS WILLIAMS: My word, what a lot of rain delays. You know, you never know what to expect. Obviously my opponent and I, we were playing under the same conditions. I can't say that I've ever had a rain delay at match point. Probably not ideal. She handled it well. She played smart. It was just, I guess, non stop action. It was like a Hollywood script.

Q. That was a really excellent hug that you had with her. Big respect. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Quality was good? (Smiling).Q. Very fine quality. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Yeah, I mean, I got all respect for her. I think she does the same for me. When I was coming to the net, I had no thoughts. My thoughts was Hawk Eye call. I was praying it to go out. I was not sure what I saw.
And then I saw her like having hands like that, so definitely I hug her. Great, great sportsmanship. I think it's great example for the next generation, you don't have to have hate for each other. It's all about peace, not war.
We have to show it, because sometimes they mix sport with politics. It's very important that we show for next generations that, you know, it's out of that, you know. Give good example.

Q. We're so used to seeing you play so consistently, at such a high level. Today your serve and backhand were not the way they usually are. Was there a reason for that? Were you 100% healthy?NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Not really. But, you know, it's not the place and time to talk about it. Again, the opponent was playing on a very high level and he deserved to win.

Q. When you have those moments when you disagree with the umpire, there's a distraction in the crowd or whatever, do you find that you can feed off that? Sometimes it makes you angry and it helps your game or it can disrupt your concentration?NICK KYRGIOS: It can do both. I don't know why you guys always ask me these questions. There's plenty of players that ask the umpire questions. I'm not necessarily arguing with the umpire, I just want to hear what he thinks. I just want to tell him my opinion. I'm not necessarily getting angry at the umpire, I'm just having a conversation with him.It can either bring negative energy... If I'm asking a question, it's just a question.

Q. It wasn't as long ultimately, but is it fair to say you kind of have an insight now as to how Nicolas Mahut was feeling all those years ago?JOHN ISNER: No.

Q. What was your sense of belief in your ability to do that going into the match and how did that evolve during the match?SAM QUERREY: You know, I'm not going to lie and say going into it I thought I was going to win. But I think as the match progressed, I was serving well and holding in the first set, we were kind of going back and forth, I gained a little more confidence with every game.
We got to that tiebreaker and I played a great tiebreaker. Once I won that, I was like in my head, All right, I can beat this guy, I can hang with him and turn this into a match.